Candia dump's show-and-tell this weekend

CANDIA - Candia Selectman Richard Snow will conduct tours this weekend of the closed town dump and incinerator site, the demolition of which has proved a contentious issue.

The purpose of the visits will enable residents to become familiar with the site and the issues surrounding its closure and demolition.

"I'm just going to take them and stand them in one place and say 'here's what the state says we have to do. ... Here's what we're doing," Snow said.

The complicated issues surrounding the site's closure and costs have been controversial, even producing a fistfight between a selectman and a Solid Waste Committee member in September.

The scope of the work includes the removal and disposal of incinerator ash, the incinerator itself and its stack and "associated controls," and the demolition of the incinerator building, swap shop building and a three-section concrete bin.

Complications have expanded the project's scope and costs, however, such as the discovery of metals and other pollutants contaminating the incinerator ash.

Central to the debate is the cost of the demolition work, which is set now with the current bidder at $129,300. Selectmen voted in September to put off the work until March, provided voters approve $100,000 of the necessary funds through a warrant article.

The other two bids for the closure project came in around $336,000.

Meanwhile, selectmen have been working out the details of the contract with EnviroVantage, an Epping environmental and remediation contractor.

Selectmen Amanda Soares and Fred Kelly had opposed EnviroVantage's bid, arguing that the spending will add approximately $50 to the average tax bill for property valued at $200,000.

Candia's deliberative session will be held Feb. 2 at 9 a.m. at the Henry W. Moore School.

The public is advised that visitors enter at their own risk. The site is located at 95 New Boston Road, and the visits will begin at noon on Saturday and Sunday. Should no one appear by 12:30 p.m., Snow will leave the site.